Know Your Trees, Courtesy of SDOT

Turns out that these aren’t lodgepole pine.
Photo courtesy of Seattle Department of Transportation
Confession time: I know next to nothing about trees. As a Seattle resident and fan of the outdoors (and a former bio major), I’m embarrassed that I can barely tell a flowering cherry from a cedar. That’s why I’m pumped that since January, a web map created by the city reveals the name of every leaf on the street—and every morning commute can be a nature walk.
So how do you find out what’s flowering outside your door? Zoom in to the tree inventory map, which has icons for some 122,000 plants. Besides the scientific name of each arboreal specimen, the map displays the truck diameter, date of inventory, and street address.
Special icons are used to mark heritage trees, which are special individual specimens (like really big ones), historic (like really old ones), or otherwise a landmark. Among the city’s heritage trees are giant redwoods more than 100 feet tall and a 90-year-old golden weeping willow.
If you’re too lazy to look up a tree, you can always make an educated guess: Of those maintained by the city, 21 percent are of the flowering cherry genus; 20 percent are maples. The condition of each is cataloged, with a whopping 42 percent noted as poor or mostly dead. To report conditions or inquire about city greenery, call the city’s tree hotline (yes, they have one!) at 206-684-TREE.